1. Field of the Disclosure
The present embodiments relate to semiconductor substrate processing methods and equipment tools, and more particularly, heater assembly designs that utilize multiple heaters and a common terminal to reduce wiring to the heater assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reactors having pedestals with multiple heaters are typically used to enable precision control of the surface of the pedestal during processing of a substrate in the reactor. Two zone heaters in pedestals conventionally have two electrical terminals per heater, or four terminals total. Each of these terminals needs to be wired through the base of the pedestal and into connections of resistive elements that are integrated into the pedestal. Two zone heaters in pedestals offer the ability to tune radial temperature profile as well as to compensate for variable environmental thermal loss conditions such as process kit emissivity change (wafer count-based) or for heat transfer conditions that are different between different process steps (state-based).
As the design of pedestals and associated reactors continue to improve, more control is provided by way of circuitry, wiring, and other interfacing components. Unfortunately, this increase in wiring can lead to undesired complexity in the interconnections made to the pedestal. Thus, simplification of wiring requirements through the base of the pedestal and in the pedestal are needed to reduce cost, complexity and design, and reduce additional points of failure.
It is in this context that disclosures arise.